Joystick Monkey is a blog about video games, technology, and any other geeky items that catch my attention. Follow me on Facebook as well for smaller updates and thoughts.

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Pre-E3 Thoughts

With E3 less than a week away, I want to hear your predictions of what will happen.

Here's a few of mine:

Microsoft and Sony will continue their pissing contest about which console is more geared towards gamers. I've never been a huge Sony fan, but I think their PS4 unveiling was done MUCH better than Xbox One, which was basically just people saying "TV" and "Sports" a bunch of times. Guess what, I just cancelled my cable subscription because there's nothing on TV I can't download, and I don't watch sports. Also, as cool as Kinect seems, simply pressing a button on a remote is much easier than waving my arms like a Power Ranger on meth and screaming at my Xbox to change the channel. Combine that with not being able to play my old Xbox 360 games (my current 360 is making funny noises, I was banking on the new one for an upgrade) and the, in my opinion, non-revolutionary graphics updates, and I think I'll be skipping this next gen for a couple of years unless the price is incredible. That's really all I want from both of these companies. They'll show some shiny new games, talk about how powerful their systems are, fine, whatever, tell me how much it costs so I'll know how long I'll be eating nothing but KD and dog treats so I can afford one.

That brings me to my next bit. Wii U. Nintendo's little engine that so far couldn't. I'll be the first to say, I love my Wii U. I play it almost every day, LOVE that I can go back and play my Wii games (Mario Party 9 and Wii Sports Resort are still weekly regulars at my house) and have been upgrading my Virtual Console library as they come. I play Mega Man X and Super Mario World on the Game Pad pretty much any time the TV is occupied by anything else. I think this E3 could make or break the system though. I really think Nintendo has to come out swinging. Let MS and Sony duke it out over their powerhouses. Nintendo needs to remind people why they play games. Like I said, the graphics updates shown at the One unveiling were decent, but not enough to convince me to shell out for a new system. Wii U has some cool new experiences that people really need to be shown hands on. Nintendo screwed up big time with the Wii U release so far. I was confusing, the name sucks, and the lack of new games was a hard pill to swallow. I already owned half the games that came out on other systems. I'm not going to buy Lego Batman 2 again just so I can see a map on the gamepad. What Nintendo needs from this E3 is to come out with new games that aren't trailing other systems. They don't all have to be new IPs, just as long as they come out at the same time as the 360 and PS3 versions.

Nintendo also needs to show some of their heavy hitters. I think Nintendo can "win" this E3 easily. Here's how:

Reggie comes out on stage. "Welcome to E3. Here's Mario, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, a sneak peak at Zelda, as well as more info on the Wind Waker update. Here's some new stuff from Sega and our third party friends. Oh, and Retro is making a new Metroid game. Here's that too. Peace". Done! Almost... I think a price drop is needed too. There are rumors of the PS4 and One coming in at under $400. If that's true, Nintendo can't hope to compete. If they come in at $500, Nintendo is ok with a $150 price difference. At a $50 price difference, Nintendo is insane if they think people will chose them by comparison. Stop selling an 8 gig unit, release the Deluxe in white, drop the price to $300 and call it a day. It worked wonders for the 3DS, a system I can't leave the house without, so offer some sort of free VC game deal to "Ambassadors" as you did with the 3DS if you need to, or don't, I'm still happy with my purchase. Either way, Nintendo already has its system in the wild. It has a distinct advantage over the "keeping too many secrets, just tell us the price and the date already" Sony and MS. It's going to be an interesting E3, no matter what.